The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has upgraded its recent egg recall over salmonella fears to the most serious level.

The recall, which applies to 19 million eggs, has been moved to Class I, meaning “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

Nearly 100 people have fallen ill, with 26 hospitalized. There have not yet been any confirmed deaths.

The recall applies to eggs sold under the Country Morning, Cal-Maine Sunups, Brookshire’s, Simple Truth, and Kroger brand names. They will have sell-by or best-by dates between July 20, 2026 and August 17, 2026.

Salmonella symptoms typically emerge between 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. They include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps, and usually last four to seven days. The FDA warns that children younger than five, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are likely to have more severe infections.

According to the FDA, the recalled eggs were shipped to stores in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

They were sold via Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana; Brookshire Grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and other smaller retailers in those states as well as Mississippi and New Mexico.

If any eggs included in the recall have already been purchased, they should be thrown away or returned to the point of purchase for a refund. The FDA recommends that if eggs are being stored without their original packaging and may have been part of the recall, they should also be thrown away.

The egg recall comes as the U.S. continues to battle a major outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic illness that causes explosive diarrhea. Federal data released this week show 4,173 confirmed cases across 41 states, with another 7,400 reports awaiting confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Michigan has recorded the highest number of reported cases, with state officials linking thousands of illnesses to contaminated lettuce. The parasite can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever, body aches, dehydration and extreme fatigue.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday the outbreaks were “under control,” despite the rising number of reported cases.

“We have done extensive forensics, epidemiological forensics and we have identified the source of the outbreak. We, and the companies that are involved, have implemented a recall,” Kennedy told reporters.